THE TWO CHINATOWNS

Chapter 6




Lee followed Brunette and McKenna out of the truck, but took the lead outside the restaurant. A few shouted words from him in Chinese and the crowd parted to allow them to pass. A couple of cops moved a barrier aside, and the three were in the restaurant.
     There were two covered bodies on the floor just inside the door. In the dining room, Sammy Ong and his family sat at one table and Linda sat at another. Two detectives and a uniformed captain stood between the tables, engaged in conversation. The seven kitchen workers were formed in a line along the wall next to the kitchen door, watched by another uniformed cop. Cisco stood in front of the men's room door with a third covered body at his feet. He appeared to be deep in thought, but he managed a smile when McKenna and Brunette came in. Lee diplomatically joined the cops in the dining room as McKenna and Brunette walked over to Cisco.

     "We're terribly sorry about Sue," Brunette said. "I can't imagine how you must feel."

     "Never felt this way before, never lost anyone this close to me before," Cisco said. "I'm not ashamed to tell you that I'm really hurting."
     "We're hurting for you, too, Cisco," McKenna said. "You must know that. She was a wonderful girl."
     "I'm sure you are, but let me show you what they did to her," Cisco said, swinging open the men's room door. "Take a look at what they did to the love of my life."
     Brunette and McKenna looked, not knowing what to say to Cisco.
     "Take a good look at her mouth," Cisco said after an uncomfortable silence. "Broke her teeth when he shoved the pistol in."
     "We see it," Brunette said, and then he turned to face Cisco. "I'm glad you got them."
     "Just got two. Not enough," Cisco said. He closed the men's room door, then turned to the cop watching the line of kitchen workers. "Could you take that group into the kitchen?" he asked. "We've got a few things to discuss that they don't need to hear."
     The Toronto cop complied, ushering the kitchen workers inside. Cisco turned back to Brunette and McKenna as the kitchen doors swung shut and stared at them.
     Both McKenna and Brunette knew where Cisco was heading, and had expected as much. "You can't," Brunette said. "This isn't our town. Hell, it isn't even our country."
     "But it's our problem. Not just my problem, our problem," Cisco said. "This crew is from New York."
     "How do you know?"
     "Look." Cisco bent over and pulled the blanket off Johnny. The serving knife was still embedded in his chest and there was ink on his fingers, confirming to McKenna and Brunette that the body had already been fingerprinted. Cisco grabbed Johnny's jacket at the right arm by the elbow, and yanked it up. Johnny had a tattoo on his forearm, a knife with three Chinese characters on the blade. Underneath the knife were the letters BTK.
     Brunette stared at the tattoo, but didn't know what it meant. He looked to McKenna.
     "Born to Kill," McKenna said. "Vietnamese gang centered north of Canal Street at the fringe of Chinatown. Most vicious of all the gangs, but they don't work for the tongs on a steady basis. Don't engage in the routine small-time extortions, either. They're mercenaries, hire themselves out for special events, mostly contract killings and kidnappings."
     "He doesn't look Vietnamese to me," Brunette commented.
     "Probably Chinese, but I'll guarantee he was born in Vietnam," Cisco said. "BTK's top-heavy with ethnic Chinese whose families had lived in Vietnam for centuries. They left when the government there began persecuting them in the late seventies, after Vietnam and China had their little war. Boat people, mostly, but they were let into the U.S. legally as political refugees."
     "Born to Kill doesn't have branches in other cities?"
     Cisco answered. "Not as far as we know. They'll travel worldwide on their missions, but New York is where they're based."
     "Weren't they the gang involved in the kidnapping case Margie Yee worked last year?" Brunette asked.
     "Yeah, snakehead caper, maybe a lot like this one," Cisco replied. "Kidnapped a Chinese illegal alien—a waiter—and held him for ransom in Queens. Margie found the house where he was being held, and her team hit it. Freed the waiter and another kidnapping victim being held there—a Chinese cook, also illegal. She busted two gangsters, but both of them jumped bail."
     "Would be nice to make a case against this gang and put them all in the slammer," Brunette observed.
     "That's what I intend to do—and more, if you let me," Cisco said.
     "What do you mean, more? More than just getting the one who got away, or more than getting Born to Kill?"
     "I mean getting the driver, all his pals, and whoever hired them to come in here tonight, beat, kidnap, and kill that poor dishwasher, and incidentally ruin my life on their way out."
     "Don't know if I can do that, Cisco. Getting whoever hired them would be an international deal, and we're starting with murders in a foreign city."
     "Gang's based in New York, so you can open a New York case on it if the chief officially requests our cooperation on his cases here, can't you?" Cisco countered.
     "I could and I would, but I hope you can understand my position on that."
     "You saying you wouldn't want me working it?" Cisco asked.
     "You're too close to it, Cisco, and you've already shown us what happens when you get too close," Brunette said, nodding down to the body at their feet. "This isn't my jurisdiction or even my country, so I'm not overly concerned that this guy happened to get stabbed through the heart after he somehow got your gun from you. However, you can understand that I can't have those same type of gimmicks playing in New York."
     Brunette's message didn't seem to concern Cisco in the slightest. "Spur of the moment thing, a mistake that won't happen again," he said. "Put me on this, and it'll be a professional police operation. From now on, nothing but live prisoners—live ones to squeeze for information."
     "I'll need to talk to Van Etten first, but I'm not going to promise you anything right now."
     "Fine by me, I'm not worried," Cisco said. "Let me show you something else." Cisco bent over Johnny once again, but this time he pulled Johnny's shirt open to expose a tattoo on his chest. It was another series of Chinese characters, these much more recent than the tattoo on his forearm.
     "Don't recognize it," Brunette said. "What's it mean?"
     "According to Sammy Ong, it means that he's a recent member of Fourteen K. That's their logo."
     "Fourteen K?"
     "One of the more powerful triads. Based in Hong Kong, but it's got influence in Singapore, Thailand, and China, among other places."
     "Like here and New York, apparently," Brunette said.
     "Apparently."
     "What makes a triad different than a tong?" McKenna asked.
     "I'm not entirely clear on that, but Sammy's a Hip Sing honcho and he says they're different. Says that Fourteen K is a real bad group specializing in drugs, counterfeiting, and the importation of illegal aliens into the U.S. and Canada."
     "That what's happening here?" Brunette asked. "Did Fourteen K import illegal aliens into this restaurant, then hire Born to Kill to enforce their payment schedule?"
     "It's a bit more complicated than that. Hip Sing's involved as well."
     "Did Sammy tell you that?"
     "Yeah, made a confidential statement to me that he knows is against his best interests."
     "Then why'd he do it?" Brunette asked, then answered his own question. "Because he figures there's no way to keep their involvement under wraps after the killings here tonight. He's counting on you to put the best light on it."
     "Backed up by massive demonstrations outside if I can't and the Toronto cops decide to take action against Benny Po tonight in his time of grief."
     "Are all the other restaurants on the block using illegal aliens?"
     "Yeah, they have to in order to keep their prices competitive. That's another reason they're all on board and outside. They want this investigation toned down and wrapped up quickly to keep themselves out of it."
     "What is Hip Sing's involvement, exactly?"
     "Junior accomplice to Fourteen K. The triad smuggles the aliens in from China after collecting part of their fee there, then brings them to Hip Sing. The tong houses them in flophouses owned by its members, then gets them jobs in its members' restaurants so the aliens can work off the rest of their debt to Fourteen K."
     "Then everybody's happy?"
     "Some happier than others. The flophouse owners are making a profit on the housing arrangement, the restaurant owners have workers toiling long hours at less-than-legal minimum wage, Hip Sing is collecting a fee for this service from Fourteen K, and the illegals have a job and a roof over their head while they slave away at their debt."
     "So Fourteen K hires Born to Kill, doing whatever it takes to keep the money coming in," Brunette guessed. "Meanwhile, Hip Sing's on the sidelines, not encouraging Born to Kill, but doing nothing to stop them."
     "Essentially correct, but that doesn't mean that Hip Sing approves," Cisco said. "According to Sammy, Hip Sing would have nothing to do with an uncontrollable, murderous group like Born to Kill. Besides, Benny's been a Hip Sing member for twenty-five years, and he's real friendly with Sammy as well."
     "So murdering Benny's niece doesn't sit well with the other Hip Sing members outside?" Brunette surmised.
     "Not at all. They don't like any violence in members' businesses and tonight's show was more than they're willing to tolerate. Trouble is, they're all afraid of Born to Kill, and even more afraid of Fourteen K."
     "So they're counting on the police to teach Born to Kill and Fourteen K a lesson and slow them down?"
     "If possible, and without getting themselves too deeply involved or shining too much light on their own misdeeds."
     "How does it work for the illegal aliens?" Brunette asked.
     "Do you mean, how much does it cost them to get here and what's the payment plan?"
     "Yeah. How are they getting robbed by these groups?"
     "Don't know, and Sammy isn't sure what Fourteen K's price is for certain. It was somewhere around thirty-five grand, but he says that the price keeps going up."
     "What do the kitchen workers say?"
     "They're not talking, and I don't think they're gonna."
     "Not even to Sammy?" Brunette asked.
     "To nobody. They're terrified of Fourteen K, probably with good reason. They talk and they get killed or, worse, somebody in their family gets whacked in China."
     "So how would you proceed, if you got the case?"
     "I'd start with the driver who got away. After I squeeze him, I'll know where they were planning to take Chan for torture and ransom."
     "Ransom?"
     "That's why they kidnap these people. Hold them here until their family in China makes good on the missed payments, as well as come up with the late payment fee."
     "And if they can't or won't?"
     "Don't know, but I imagine it's pretty drastic. What I have to hope is that they've got a couple of other late payers stashed at wherever they were planning to bring Chan. That's the way they operated in New York, take two or three at once and spread the terror around the illegal community."
     "Could you recognize the driver if you saw him again?"
     "Sure could, and I will be seeing him again."
     "How do you plan on getting a line on him?"
     "For starters, take a look at the photos our Asian Gang Task Force has on Born to Kill. He's got to be in there."
     "That might tell you who he is, but it doesn't tell you where he is," Brunette commented.
     "True, but I know something else about him. He's in a rental car. Four-door, late model, light green Pontiac Grand Am."
     "Sounds like the type of car the rental companies use, but how can you be sure it is a rental?" Brunette asked.
     "Because the passenger door was open when he was firing at me and I saw the key in the ignition. Just one key, with one of those white plastic tags attached that the rental companies use. It's a rental, and if I can get a little help here, I'll find out where he got it from."
     "Wrong already, Cisco," Brunette said. "If you get assigned, it's not them who are helping you, it's you who's helping them. While it's up here, it's a Toronto PD case."
     "You think they're sharp enough to handle it?"
     "Have you met Lieutenant Lee yet?" Brunette asked.
     "Lieutenant Robert E. Lee from Alabama? Yeah, I met him. Friendly enough, smiles a lot, but I don't know how sharp he is."

     "Let's see." Brunette called Lee over, and pointed to the tattoos on the corpse's right forearm. "What do you make of them?"

     "Means he was a very bad boy," Lee said after glancing at the tattoos. "Born to Kill, the most vicious of the gangs you could possibly send us. This man's Chinese, but he was probably born in Vietnam."
     Brunette looked to Cisco and Cisco nodded approvingly. Then Brunette pointed to the tattoos on the corpse's chest.
     "Means that besides being very bad, he was also well-traveled. He was recently inducted into Fourteen K as an associate member, probably in Hong Kong. One of the oldest and most powerful of the triads."
     "Do you know who's in charge of Fourteen K?" Cisco asked.
     "Their dragon head is reputed to be a character named Johnny Eng. He's a Taiwan citizen currently living in Hong Kong, one of the richest people there."
     "Johnny Eng," Cisco said, as if he were memorizing the name. "Dragon head?"
     "The head honcho. All the triads have an ancient, ritualized rank structure."
     "Can't the Hong Kong police get him?" Cisco asked.
     "They'd love to bag him, but they can't get anything on him because the triads emphasize secrecy when it comes to their higher rank structure."
     "Can you tell from the tattoo what rank this guy held?" Brunette asked, nodding down to the corpse.
     "Blue Hanging Lantern, lowest rank. However, even that rank gave him enormous benefits. He'd have access to forged identity documents, and the right to use the criminal contacts in Fourteen K's front organizations."
     "Does Fourteen K have any front organizations in Toronto?"
     "Don't know of any, but I'd assume they do."
     "What do you plan to do now?" Brunette asked.
     "Depends," Lee answered, then turned to Cisco. "Are these people finally going to talk to me?"
     "Except for the cook, I'm pretty sure all the kitchen workers are illegals brought here by Fourteen K, so I don't think they'll be talking to anybody. However, Sammy, Benny, Linda, and I will tell you everything we know."
     "Where is Benny?"
     "Giving Sue's mother the bad news. He'll be back."
     "Can we get Sue's body photographed and taken to the morgue?"
     "Yes," Cisco replied. "I won't be giving you any more trouble."
     "Glad to hear it," Lee said, then turned to Brunette. "Then I'll finish getting this crime scene processed, question my witnesses, and start searching for the one that got away."
     "You get ID back yet on these two gangsters?" Brunette asked.
     "No record in Canada, so we still don't know who they are. I was hoping you'd do me a favor and fax a set of their fingerprint cards to New York for me."
     "Glad to. If you go get them, I'll do it right now."
     As soon as Lee left them to get his fingerprint cards, Brunette turned to Cisco. "What do you think of Lieutenant Robert E. Lee?"
     "He'll do."
*     *     *
After using Goo Pan's fax machine to send the fingerprint cards to the NYPD Identification Section, Brunette left Cisco and McKenna in the restaurant and returned to the headquarters truck. Cisco would watch Robert E. Lee question the witnesses while other Toronto detectives finished processing the crime scene. McKenna would watch Cisco, ready to calm him down if the need arose.
     When Brunette entered the rear office of the truck, he found Van Etten on the phone. By listening to Van Etten's end of the conversation, Brunette was able to tell that the chief was speaking with one of his superiors in the Toronto city government.
     "I'm hoping to get back to you with some answers in fifteen minutes," Van Etten promised before hanging up.
     "Your mayor?" Brunette asked.
     "Uh-huh, and he likes to get himself a regular good night's sleep. Since our reporters can't find me, they're bothering his press people for some insight on what happened here. He doesn't like that."
     "Then we'll make him happy and put him back to bed."
     "I'll be able to give the press the story?" Van Etten asked, hopefully.
     "Yeah, and I think you'll like the way the story plays," Brunette said. "You can tell the press that your city has recently been infiltrated by a particularly vicious New York Chinese street gang working for a powerful international criminal organization."
     "I'm supposed to like that?"
     "I'm not done. You can also tell them that two of these gangsters are dead, and that one of the recently departed is probably a leader of the vicious gang that came here to cause the mayhem tonight. Your investigation is continuing, and in all likelihood the third gangster who participated in this crime will be apprehended." Brunette then explained what he had learned from Cisco and Lee.
     "I assume the Hong Kong police have been after them for years?" Van Etten asked when Brunette finished.
     "Yeah, they have," Brunette conceded.
     "Then what would be my department's chances of succeeding if they can't do it?"
     "Rather good, since you'll be bringing the Hong Kong police on board, and you'll have the assistance and total cooperation of the New York City Police Department in our investigation."
     "Our investigation?"
     "Yes. What I'm proposing is a joint investigation. Share the risks if it goes bad, and share the credit if it goes good."
     "Why would you want to get involved in a risky venture like this?"
     "Because I have to. Once our New York reporters get wind of Cisco's exploits up here, they're going to run with the story for all it's worth. Considering it's a New York gang that caused your problems, the pressure will be on me to crush Born to Kill—especially once I tell our press that they've been responsible for similar crimes in New York."
     "I'm presuming that you think you will be able to crush them," Van Etten commented.
     "I think so. It'll be difficult, but not as difficult as hurting Fourteen K."
     "What's the best reason for going after Fourteen K?"
     "Cisco. I've always been his boss, but he's been a friend of mine for years. Cisco considers Fourteen K to be ultimately responsible for the death of his girlfriend, and he wants them."
     "I'll admit that he seems to be extremely competent, but don't you think that he's a little too close to this thing to assign him to the investigation?"
     "There are risks, but I trust him. I'll give him some time to calm down and get his head together, but he's got the case on our end."
     "You must have other people good enough to do the job, don't you?"
     "I'd never say this to Cisco, but sure I do. A few as good, and many almost as good."
     "Then why take a chance on assigning him?"
     "Like I said, he's my friend. And, for him, this case will be personal."

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